My beautiful and wonderful wife has been secretly ordering a few gifts to give me for no reason other than she knew I'd like them....just because.

I think she's great!

The Culinarias. These books are a full dose of history, sociology, travelogue and cookbook all in one, packed full of beautiful photographs and sometimes maps. A delight to read, look at, and cook from.....thay have it all and are heavy on the local, authentic cooking that is a hallmark of a true, regional cookbook.

Lots of great recipes in these new books, and several of them are posted here on this site- so look around. There are some really good authentic foods within these books and sure to make a great meal.

i gotta give a second vote for this series. they are definitely more than cookbooks! to me, they pick up where time-life's foods of the world left off, and together, both sets give a very well-rounded view of a country/region.

so far, i have these culinaria books:

spain (thanks, john!)

germany

italy

greece

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Go with the France, Hungary and Russia in that order if you want good, useable, realistic recipes. Although all books are fascinating, lovely and a beautiful peek into that particular country. A big personal plus is that the French one rightly devotes plenty of space to wine and cheese!

those sound like good suggestions, john, and in the order that i would also have chosen, except for the fact that hungary seems to be getting a little hard to find. i currently can't find it on most searches, and the odd one that i do find seems to be priced rather exorbitantly.

anyway, i have officially finished the very last of the foods of the world series as of yesterday, and today am beginning my culinaria perusals. i have decided to travel from west to east in europe, and so have begun reading culinaria spain. i am only a few short pages into the book (in the catalonia region), but have already learned so much and am quite impressed!

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Since my last posting, I have received Culinaria France and Culinaria Hungary (just yesterday).

The volume on France was very nice, and gave whole new insights on French cooking. For those of you who think it is all truffles and sauces and fancy-schmancy dinners, this book will go a long way toward proving otherwise. Those facets are of course present in French cooking, but there is a whole other side that is warm, inviting and oh-so homey.....and of course there is a very thorough look into France's most famous culinary achievements: cheese and wine! Altogether an outstanding window into a wonderful food culture.

And the Hungarian volume! Oh my, oh my, I cannot say enough. I have been wanting this one for a long time, and made myself "wait" to get it until the last possible moment. I am a huge fan of Hungarian cooking, and I wanted to truly savor this book. I was not disappointed in the least, and the book has surpassed all of my expectations ~ the pictures, the information, the wonderful recipes that use the most humble ingredients to produce such beautiful and lively food. This is truly my favourite of the series so far!

Six down (Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, France and Hungary) and at least two more to go (Russia and the USA). I would like to get all of these books, even though I would probably not have much occasion to use China, Southeast Asia, The Caribbean etc. - the simple fact is that these are so much more than recipe books - they are treasure troves of information about the food, culture, history and life of the people who live there.

Many, many thanks to my friend John for introducing me to these books with the wonderful volume on Spain, and for inspiring me to keep acquiring them (especially Hungary). For this series alone, i remain in his debt!

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over the weekend, i received culinaria russia, which is an incredible volume with a very diverse collection of food and culture throughout one of the most interesting regions of the world. with such a wide diversity in cultures due to its vast geographic area, the volume on russia runs that gambit from high cusine inspired by france to peasant cuisine similar to that found in central and eastern europe - to far-east cuisine and even down toward the middle east and asia minor.

"russia" is the last on my "gotta get" list of culinaria cookbooks. i see that there are aso rumors of a volume titled "britannia and eire" that i would be very interested in, but it appears that it has been out of print for a while and was limited to begin with, which will probably make the cost prohibitive. if anyone discovers any other volumes that haven't been covered in this thread, please bring them to our attention. this is a fascinating and outstanding series that is very much worth a look.

this brings my collection to : spain, germany, italy, greece, france, hungary, and russia. other volumes i would like (but probably won't be able to get) are the caribbean, the USA, china and southeast asia. i also believe that there are volumes on japan and india, either newly-available or perhaps forthcoming. also, the other ones, while certainly interesting to me personally, will contain ingredients and concepts that will be difficult considering where i live and the kind of food my family prefers. i will certainly pick them up if i get the opportunity, but at this time i am unable to make them a priority due to other necessities. if anyone is interested in these cuisines, i urge you to seek them out!

as always, my heartfelt thanks goes out to john for introducing me to this series, and to my wife for patiently picking through ebay, amazon and other websites in order to help me collect the ones that i have so far.

ron

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I didn't know there were so many! I have the french, the italian, the spanish and the greek.

All I can say is that any cook should have a few of these on his/her bookshelf to understand where ingredients come from or are grown or processed. I love these books, they are worth every penny you spend on them!

i just placed an order yesterday for culinaria: the united states. for some reason, i thought it was in two volumes, but it is indeed only in one, and at a good price through amazon ~

i'm eagerly looking forward to its arrival, and will try to provide a report, not to mention try a few of the recipes within!

this will most likely complete my collection, although there are still a few culinaria books out there, and possibly more to be published as well. china and southeast asia aren't very much on my radar, but if i find them at a good price, i will get them. the caribbean is one i would like, but the cost is prohibitive. if i find a good price, i plan to jump on it. there have been rumors about "britannia and eire," but this must have had a very limited run, so it will be extremely expensive, if one is lucky enough to find one. finally, i've heard rumors about future volumes for japan and india ~ i'd like these, if they can be had at a good price, but i don't have a "need" to get them.

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i did receive culinaria: the united states. it's an incredible, hard-cover book of large proportions in the coffe-table style. very nice with wonderful pictures and a pretty good written accounting of the various regional specialties across the country; of course, there are also hundreds of recipes, sure to spark interest in any part of the country. i've been recently looking through it, and will try a couple of things - i am leaning toward chile rellenos from texas for my next project....

i also received, just a couple of days ago, culinaria: southeast asia. this book is also really something. it's not as thick as the previous editions, but it is certianly packed with knowledge, historical and cultural information. many of the recipes feature ingredients that i will probably never have access to, but there are also many that i can try.

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Recently, I had found Spain, Italy and Greece in Spanish, and the historical, harvesting side, agricultural data, charcuterie with photos, all the products grown and raised, geographical info, photograghs and tons of fab facts are extraordinarily valuable for those who would like to explore and discover the world of cheeses, hams, cookware vessels, wines and designations of all the specific country produces and specialises in, and all facets of a region and its epicurism of a loved country and its traditions, festivities and the cuisines. Excellent research on ancient cookware. Italy covers over one hundred eighty types of pastas and is broken down by each of its province 's treasures each province' specialties, breads, dishes, holidays and sauces with historical key notes on background of each dish. Truly fabulous.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SERIES.

Would love to know, if they have published South America and Mexico yet. Any knowledge on these two regions ?

margi - as far as i know they don't have mexican or south american editions yet, but i believe those would make great volumes.

two bits of culinaria news: when i arrived home from work yesterday, i saw that the awesome and beautiful mrs. tas had ordered the CARIBBEAN volume for me, and it was a true joy to peruse. this is a volume that i had always wanted, but didn't think i would ever actually get for two reasons: 1) it is quite rare and therefore expensive, and 2) i figured that it would feature recipes with ingredients that would be very difficult or impossible for me to get here in montana.

i am happy to say that i was wrong on both counts! by watching and waiting, TBMT was able to get the book (in nearly-new condition) from a supplier on amazon.com at a great price; also, after looking through it, i discovered that it is true that a few recipes are going to be nearly (but not totally) impossible, but most are indeed within easy reach, either with plausible substitute ingredients or with the actual ingredients themselves.

happy day!

on another note, our family physician is hungarian, meaning that he his father was born and raised in hungary, and he (the son) has even lived in hungary for a time. one day, i brought my hungarian culinaria volume to a regular check-up in order to show it to him (think about some primary ingredients in hungarian cuisine, and this can be ironic, funny, or a little of both!), and he was overjoyed to see it, taking great interest in both the photos and the recipes. he was so enthusiastic about it, in fact, that i decided to simply give him the book as a gift, rather than just show it to him as i intended. so, i will be buying a replacement volume of culinaria hungary in the near future, yes - but it was really gratifying to run into him a few weeks alter in the grocery store, happily gathering ingredients for another dish from the book. doing good deeds really does pay off!

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